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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

If you'd like to hear some jazz as part of your Memorial Day weekend, there are a number of noteworthy shows coming up over the next few days in and around St. Louis. Let's go to the highlights:

The week's best-known headliner is singer Marlena Shaw (pictured), who's in town to perform tonight through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Shaw's music encompasses jazz, soul, R&B, gospel, pop and many other influences; for more on her, and some performance videos, see this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

(Jazz St. Louis is offering a two-for-one special on tickets for Shaw's sets tonight and Thursday, which have a non-discounted price of $30 each. To get the two-for-one discount, call the Jazz St. Louis office at 314-289-4030 and use the coupon code "FC0526.")

On Friday, guitarist Will Matthews, who currently tours with the Count Basie Orchestra, will play at Robbie's House of Jazz, accompanied by Reggie Thomas on organ and Marty Morrison on drums. Matthews has played on numerous recordings with the Basie band, including two Grammy Award winners, and also has performed with many other jazz artists, including Joe Williams, Frank Foster, Benny Carter, Milt Jackson, George Benson, Kenny Burrell, Nancy Wilson, Patti Austin, Tony Bennett, Dianne Reeves, Jimmy Cobb, Hank Jones and Nnenna Freelon.

Also on Saturday, saxophonist Greg Lewis and Press Play will perform at an outdoor concert dubbed "Jazz On The Lake" at the Grand Marais Lighthouse in Frank Holton State Park, 4500 Pocket Rd. in East St. Louis. Tickets are $10 general admission, $5 for students; call 618-581-6337 for more info.

(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)